Assuring Quality Preschool: Where Are We, and Where Do We Need to Go?

• In Event: Universal Preschool: What Have We Learned, and What Does It Mean for Practice and Policy?

Abstract

Policymakers, practitioners, and scholars consistently call for
expansions of * quality * preschool. To assure this objective, decision
makers have used quality assessments and incentives in myriad ways,
including teacher annual reviews, program monitoring, and parent
information systems. Yet, most quality measures were not designed for
these uses, and recent research points to limitations in their
reliability and validity. This presentation will review recent evidence
about the strengths and limits of existing quality measures for meeting
the important goal of assuring high quality preschool and point to
important directions for research-practice-policy partnerships to refine
and develop tools for this purpose.

Authors

• Rachel A. Gordon, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Kerry Guess Hofer, Vanderbilt University